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Fresh eyes, a look at the game from a new player. Suggestions

Hey Guys, let me start by saying this is going to be a long post, there is some basic quality of life features I think need to be added and some basic game info that should be made more clear. this is my own personal opinion based on the many online card games I've played, and the features I come to find common among them.

Legendaries - How do you get them? I went through all the in-game information and I couldn't find anywhere that showed me how to get them. When I asked chat how do I get them they stated you had to know the name of the legendary then search for it in the merchant shop.

I had no clue what the legendaries were I just joined the game, so right off the bat, I was a bit perplexed on how to obtain what is normally the most important cards in the game.

First thing I checked was the packs, I see you can get a rare and maybe an epic. This makes it look like legendaries are not possible here. After talking to some people, I found out it is possible to get from a pack just rare. I think it should be stated on the packs that legendary cards can be obtained from a pack but with a very low chance.

I love the buy a card feature in the shop, but I don't see why there is not a filter by rarity option. I'm sure as you play the game more you'll memorize all the names of the cards you want. but for someone who is just joining it's nice to have the option to filter out commons and just read the U,R,E and L cards to get an idea of what abilities and strategies you might be able to come up with.

Abilities- Some of the cards have the text of what the abilities do, but some of them don't. This normally happens when an ability is introduced into a set it's written out until everyone learns it then as those abilities come up in later sets they are not given the same description since it's assumed you know what they do. With a reoccurring audience, it's great.

For new people coming in a few sets down the road, it would be nice to have either a clickable name that pops up a little box explaining the ability or even just adding in an abilities index that you can go to by opening up the options menu.

Interface- One thing that confuses me is how I can only use the chatroom if I'm in Multiplayer or campaign and how the bar which shows if you have any mail also disappears. I was having a conversation in chat and decided to go try and build a new deck. The fact I have to choose to either be able to follow chat or build a deck seemed a bit odd to me. The same thing happened when someone was trying to give me advice on some cards to purchase in the shop. I had to keep clicking back and forth between the shop and multiplayer to be able to keep up with the conversation.

I'd like to see the ability to see chat no matter which part of the client you are in, same with the inbox.

Levels - I have no clue what these do, is it just to show how much time you've spent on any given hero? do you get rewards for hitting certain levels? some explanation of what happens and if levels are even important would be nice.

Merchant - I really like a lot of the features in here, from my understanding the cards you can buy either change or have a certain stock. If they do change how often? maybe add a timer or some kind of explanation as to how it all works. Packs seem like a steal at roughly a dollar per pack. I haven't figured out how to earn shadow shards, outside of paying for them yet.

I wouldn't mind seeing a gold amount on packs, giving people an opportunity to buy them without having to pay real money on shards. (unless there is a free way to get shards that I don't know about)

The gameplay is incredible and I've enjoyed the game overall, these were just a few of the struggles I went through joining the game. Thank you for such a fun game and I hope this helps the game improve.

Thank you for your input, I agree with lots of your points. SE needs something like an manual for new players with explanations for most of those things and UI upgrades.

I was a bit perplexed on how to obtain what is normally the most important cards in the game

Thats a point that is confusing for many new SE players. Legendaries are no where close to being the most important cards of the game, they are just the rarest cards in the game. Rarity is not linked to performance of the card, many of the strongest cards in SE are commons while an overwhelming majority of the legendary cards is meh at best.

But first, understand the merchant can be sold out of certain poplar cards, so that might be a problem .

Legendaries are purchased through the shop, (supply can be an issue). If you search the card name in the ship it will show you it if there are any for sale. But you have to have the right class of hero loaded. It's not going to show you Scourge Collasas when you have a human hero loaded, you can also click "show all cards". This way it will show you everything related to your search regardless of class. I think, I'm pretty sure.

Don't buy packs! Unless you have the cash to spare, then by all means buy as many as you want! the best way to build gold is to buy the Rakkia deck, sell all the cards for about 7300 gold. But if you want foils buy packs! If your just starting, buying individual hero decks is good , again if you have the resourses, if not, you will build your collection based on your current hero. Seeking cards you need or want and selling those you don't need.
The goal is to get 4x of every card as you can't use any,ore than four in any deck and only 1 copy of any hero.

Legendaries are by no means the most important card, yes they are powerful and cost a lot to cast, but they are not needed to win. Seriously!

Abilities, Every card has a description on the bottom that tells you what it does. Some are spells , some allies have abilities, and every hero has a Shadow Energy ability. The number if any is the amount needed to use that ability.. A purple circle w 3 in it means 3 shadow energy is needed. A black circle w 2 in it means 2 resourses is needed.

Interface: Yup, that's simply the limits of the chat box now. But you can join us on telegram (look in new player section for description and in announcements to join the SE rooms through the lobby link we have there)

Levels...mean nothing, it's a tracking for you to know how much you've improved, but you do get SC (shadow crystals ). For gaining a level. Spend them wisely

Merchant: I should have read this first, but, it would be nice to know when a card will be in stock, but that's not gonna happen, best way to get what you want is chat w us in TG and ask if someone will sell X card. When they sell it, it's automatically in the Merch and you buy it....it's got to be done fast or somebody else will buy it, but that's how it's done, or you can camp, just refresh the merch every few games and hopefully it shows up.

If you have less than 500 SC , you should see the couldron or embers pot on the Challange screen, click it watch a commercial and get 5 free SC for each one you watch. It might be less than 500SC it used to be 100. I'm not sure anymore. There are also sights that give you free SC fir tasks, I think you might find then by talking w folks, there used to be a button that said "earn free SC". Another way is join our community on TG , there are a lot of rich players who don't mind helping other good members of the SE Communty out a bit, by transferring a few to you.

Bad Santa also visited us during the holidays, I'll post the link here when I find it, click it, and it will guide you to a gift of SC if it's still active.

Hey Guys, let me start by saying this is going to be a long post, there is some basic quality of life features I think need to be added and some basic game info that should be made more clear. this is my own personal opinion based on the many online card games I've played, and the features I come to find common among them.

First off, Hiya DgSage and welcome to Shadow Era! Thanks for providing your feedback as a new player as the new player experience something we know needs improving.

Originally Posted by DgSage

Legendaries - How do you get them? I went through all the in-game information and I couldn't find anywhere that showed me how to get them. When I asked chat how do I get them they stated you had to know the name of the legendary then search for it in the merchant shop.

I had no clue what the legendaries were I just joined the game, so right off the bat, I was a bit perplexed on how to obtain what is normally the most important cards in the game.

First thing I checked was the packs, I see you can get a rare and maybe an epic. This makes it look like legendaries are not possible here. After talking to some people, I found out it is possible to get from a pack just rare. I think it should be stated on the packs that legendary cards can be obtained from a pack but with a very low chance.

I love the buy a card feature in the shop, but I don't see why there is not a filter by rarity option. I'm sure as you play the game more you'll memorize all the names of the cards you want. but for someone who is just joining it's nice to have the option to filter out commons and just read the U,R,E and L cards to get an idea of what abilities and strategies you might be able to come up with.

The fact that you have to search for Legendaries by name is actually old code (from previous management) that we intend to fix. While it may not say much in-game about them atm (something we should probably do), they DO show up in the card list for each set. Originally, they we're a surprise for players to discover and weren't put there for quite awhile. As mentioned above, they aren't meant to be the best cards in the game either, just the rarest. And in the case of Loest and Rothem (Shattered Fates' legendaries), you can actually get them from a bundle in the shop (Crystals Anthology).

If you search these names and no cards appear, unfortunately that means the merchant is out. As for the rarity search feature, that's a great suggestion. I'll add it to my list.

Originally Posted by DgSage

Abilities- Some of the cards have the text of what the abilities do, but some of them don't. This normally happens when an ability is introduced into a set it's written out until everyone learns it then as those abilities come up in later sets they are not given the same description since it's assumed you know what they do. With a reoccurring audience, it's great.

For new people coming in a few sets down the road, it would be nice to have either a clickable name that pops up a little box explaining the ability or even just adding in an abilities index that you can go to by opening up the options menu.

Yep, another one of those issues we're currently trying to tackle. A good portion of them are explained in the wait room tips, but we're aware that's not the best solution. We do have a Help menu, but it doesn't explain everything yet.

Originally Posted by DgSage

Interface- One thing that confuses me is how I can only use the chatroom if I'm in Multiplayer or campaign and how the bar which shows if you have any mail also disappears. I was having a conversation in chat and decided to go try and build a new deck. The fact I have to choose to either be able to follow chat or build a deck seemed a bit odd to me. The same thing happened when someone was trying to give me advice on some cards to purchase in the shop. I had to keep clicking back and forth between the shop and multiplayer to be able to keep up with the conversation.

I'd like to see the ability to see chat no matter which part of the client you are in, same with the inbox.

Noted. There has been discussion about improving this in the past, especially the in-match chatting (which you access by clicking your hero int he top corner). Another UI thing we hope to fix once we get the chance.

Originally Posted by DgSage

Levels - I have no clue what these do, is it just to show how much time you've spent on any given hero? do you get rewards for hitting certain levels? some explanation of what happens and if levels are even important would be nice.

I find it a bit odd that this pops up as much as it does considering there is a tutorial message that pops up when you level up for the first time. Anyways, the level doesn't really do anything as far as game play goes. However, you are given 25 Shadow Crystals (the premium currency) with each level up and level is separate for each hero. Speaking of which (since you ask below), this is the only way to get Shadow Crystals for free atm unless you're on mobile, in which case you can get some free ones by watching ads in the "embers" that show up from time to time on the world map.

Originally Posted by DgSage

Merchant - I really like a lot of the features in here, from my understanding the cards you can buy either change or have a certain stock. If they do change how often? maybe add a timer or some kind of explanation as to how it all works. Packs seem like a steal at roughly a dollar per pack. I haven't figured out how to earn shadow shards, outside of paying for them yet.

I wouldn't mind seeing a gold amount on packs, giving people an opportunity to buy them without having to pay real money on shards. (unless there is a free way to get shards that I don't know about)

The gameplay is incredible and I've enjoyed the game overall, these were just a few of the struggles I went through joining the game. Thank you for such a fun game and I hope this helps the game improve.

The merchant doesn't really change stock on his own. It's all based on rather players have sold copies to him. Occasionally he will stock up though if the stock becomes an issue. Packs bought for gold is not an impossibility, but something unlikely to happen since you can just buy the card's you like from the merchant. That said, you can earn free packs by doing well in the rated season and once every 4 hero level ups (most packs anyways).

I'm glad you're enjoying the game and I appreciate the feedback. The game changed hands recently and we're doing the best we can to improve it slowly but surely. ^_^

If you have any more questions, please don't hesitate to ask! As you may have noticed, the community here is quite helpful and friendly, especially on the forums and Telegram.

Thank you for sharing the legendary list, I see what everyone means they are not needed lol. some are pretty awesome. I actually pulled a foiled Kalstrad out of a DP back earlier right after posting this, made me laugh pretty hard.

I think the fact the merchant has a stock of sold cards is pretty ingenious that's such a unique way of doing it.

I'm not sure about the pop up on the first level, I had a slight issue with lag when I first played through a couple matches (PC was download windows updates -.-) so I missed a few of the beginning things.

Thank you guys for taking the time to respond and give me so much helpful info!

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